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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-06-13 Daily Xml
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Grievance Debate

State Budget

The Hon. D.J. SPEIRS (Black—Leader of the Opposition) (15:10): This week marks the second Malinauskas Labor government budget, and it gives us an opportunity to pay close attention to the budget, to make sure that the government are responding to what they said they would do for the people of South Australia. In particular, the opposition is very keen to see a budget that responds to two key areas, that responds to the government's primary election commitment and that of course was to fix the ramping crisis. I have said it many times here: we saw the posters and we saw the statements, 'Labor will fix the ramping crisis.'

Of course, we now know that it is much more of a problem now than it was when the Liberal Party left office in March 2022. In fact, it has almost doubled and Labor has delivered record ramping in South Australia. Record ramping rolls off the tongue quite easily, but what does that mean for South Australians? It means more people undergoing significant discomfort, more people in pain, more people whose lives may be at risk because they are sitting in the back of an ambulance truck. It means some of the people who are most vulnerable in our society not getting the care that they need, not getting into the EDs, and when they get into the emergency departments not necessarily getting the health care that they need when they are at their most vulnerable.

It means that there is a stressful element built into calling an ambulance: 'Will it turn up for me?' That doubt that has seeded itself in the South Australian public's consciousness is something we are greatly concerned about on this side of the house, because if an ambulance will not turn up for you does that mean that people are taking the situation into their own hands, presenting at EDs, travelling themselves? There are a whole range of complexities that sit underneath the fear that an ambulance will not arrive in your time of need.

In the 21st century in a state like South Australia, having an ambulance turn up for you in your time of need is the least that South Australians should be able to expect, especially when this government said that they would fix the ramping crisis. This budget must contain more funding for South Australia's health system. It must include initiatives to reduce the pressure on our paramedics, reduce the pressure being experienced in emergency departments and, critically important, also address the shortage of healthcare workers available to respond to patient needs.

The shadow health minister and I have been calling repeatedly for incentives to be put in place in South Australia that will attract workers from other jurisdictions, whether interstate or overseas, or perhaps stop workers who are based here from going interstate or overseas. We need to be competitive. This is a competitive market and we know that at the moment we are not at all competitive.

The Victorian budget handed down a few weeks ago included more than $200 million worth of incentives for frontline healthcare workers to get them into jobs in Victoria. Within the packages that we are seeing not just in Victoria but right across the nation, we are seeing particular commitments for regional South Australia. When it comes to provision of health care, yes, we want world-class health care in Adelaide but we also want our regions to be looked after. Regions should not have to put up with second-class care when it comes to our health system.

The shadow minister for regional health services and I have been calling, for many weeks now, for this budget to respond to the needs of South Australians when it comes to regional health care: better incentives to get doctors and nurses in place in our regions, an increase to the accommodation subsidy within the PATS and, of course, good-quality security services in place where there are particular vulnerabilities in some regional communities.

There is a chance here for the Labor government to stand up and respond to these most pressing needs in our healthcare system, both in metropolitan Adelaide and, just as importantly, in regional South Australia. We are calling for it, and we hope that this government responds to this call.

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